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If you ever wanted to launch an online shop, but you're not quite sure where to start, I get it. With all the website platforms that exist out there, it can feel rather daunting.
But whether you're looking to start a side hustle or finally begin that passion project after retiring, I want you to understand how someone with no prior experience can easily create their own online presence.
I’m here to help you launch a successful online site – like a shop, for example – one step at a time.
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A woman working on her laptop (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)
How to set up your online shop: A beginner’s guide
There are many website builders available, like Squarespace, Shopify, WordPress and Wix, but only a few specialize in online selling. Among those, even fewer make it easy to design, publish, manage your shop and handle all the in-between tasks on one platform without needing to integrate other services. Here’s how you can do it in this step-by-step guide.
1. Create your online storefront
Your website design plays a crucial role in attracting and retaining customers. Although it’s often said not to judge a book by its cover, many of us naturally do. Consider the intersection of form and function, how structure and design elements guide shoppers through their buying journey. If design isn’t your strong suit, many website builders offer a variety of e-commerce templates to choose from.
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Here are some tips:
- For a large product catalog: Opt for a template with pre-built product categories, deep search functionality and clear navigation.
- For a small product catalog: Showcase your entire catalog on the homepage, making it easy for shoppers to find and select products.
- For single products: Focus on a quick buyer flow, emphasizing a straightforward purchase experience.
When it comes to colors, fonts and other design aspects, familiarize yourself with color marketing to determine what will work best for your brand and store. Ensure your logo and/or shop name is clearly placed on your storefront.
Remember, strong product images and descriptions are essential. Use this opportunity to integrate customer support, cross-selling features and social proof to pave the path to purchase.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
Illustration of a website template (Wix)
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2. Create products and product options
Once your design is ready to go, start by adding your products to the store. Whether you’re selling physical items or digital downloads, consider the following:
- Physical products: These can be sold as one-time purchases or part of a subscription model.
- Digital products: Offer items like e-books, software or image files.
- Product options: If your product comes in different sizes, colors or materials, add variants so that customers can choose their preferred option.
Don't worry if you don't have all of this figured out yet or if you only have one product to sell right now. You'll need to start somewhere, and there's no time like the present.
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3. Use categories to organize
If you do have multiple products or plan to add them later, you'll want to group similar products into categories. This helps organize your catalog and allows customers to browse related items together, in addition to being able to easily search and filter through what they are looking for. In order to do this, follow these steps:
- Create categories: Set up categories like "Candles," "Ceramics" or any relevant groupings.
- Display categories on separate pages: Create the category, add products to it and then use a platform editor to display them. You can also manually create a page linking to all your categories if needed.
4. Optimize product pages (and more)
After deciding which products to sell and categorizing those products, you'll need to make it easy for your audience to find, read about and see what those products are. Without getting a good description and visual of what they'll be getting, they'll be less likely to order from you. So, here's what you'll need to optimize those product pages:
- Product images: Use high-quality images and, if applicable, videos that showcase your items.
- Descriptions: Add clear and compelling descriptions that highlight benefits. Bonus points if they can be optimized for SEO (more on that later).
- Cross-selling: Suggest related products that customers can add to their cart to increase sales before they check out.
- Social proof: Display reviews and testimonials that attest to the quality of your product.
Additionally, you'll want to add to your site:
- General information and contact info: Set your email address, location, language and currency. It's also a good idea to have a contact page and/or phone number and email on your website for additional questions or concerns.
- Customer support: Include FAQs so that customers can get answers to common questions. Depending on the size of your store, consider adding a live chat so that customers can contact you to discuss an order if need be. If your site grows, you may need to hire a team or ticketing software for this.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
Illustration of order page (Wix)
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5. Enter site settings
It's important to enable site settings to ensure your site functions smoothly. You can do this by entering essential details such as:
- Roles and permissions: If you have employees or partners, manage their limited access to your site so no one accidentally deletes products or pages from your online store.
- Privacy policy: Outline how customer data is collected, used, stored and protected. This builds trust with your visitors by reassuring them their personal information is safe and complies with legal requirements.
- Disclaimer: Provide a clear disclaimer to limit your liability regarding the information on your site. This is especially important for sites that provide advice, sell products or offer services that may have varying results for different users.
- Security certificate: Obtain and install an SSL certificate to encrypt data transmitted between your site and its visitors. This ensures sensitive information, such as credit card details, is protected, boosting customer confidence and improving your site's SEO ranking.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
6. Shipping and delivery options
Having a site to showcase your products is the first step, but you also need to have a way to get those products to your customers in a timely and cost-efficient manner. This is the part that can make or break your customer base, as you'll need to be able to create expectations for your users.
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Now, decide how to get your products to customers:
- Shipping: Ship products to customers using Wix’s flexible shipping rules.
- Local delivery: Hand-deliver to customers in your area.
- Pickup: Allow local customers to collect products from your physical locations.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
7. Accept online payments
Now, how will your customers pay for those products? Be sure to set up secure payment gateways so that customers can pay seamlessly and with multiple payment options. Many platforms support various payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal and more, and it's easy to accept those payments directly through your site.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
Example of website templates (WIX)
8. Optimize for search engines
In addition to making your product pages look snazzy, you'll also want to take the time to optimize those pages – and other pages on your online shop – for SEO. What this means is that when someone searches for a specific product or type of store on a search engine, your site/product pages will be the ones that come up. People accomplish this by finding relevant search keywords that people are searching for, like "handmade necklaces of fruits" or "organic soaps online ship to Atlanta."
This may require you to pay for an SEO research tool or hire an SEO specialist to help boost your visibility, ensuring your people can find you. Some platforms have SEO tools that can help you ensure you're putting in all the keywords correctly, and you can also hire an SEO specialist directly through the site.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
9. Promote your store
SEO is a way to organically lead customers to your store, but there are other ways to spread the word with outbound marketing. You may have to put a little extra effort into this, but it can help increase your sales and, at the very least, raise awareness about your shop, which people can share with their own networks, thus spreading the word. Try to have an idea of where your audience is, though, before putting all your resources into all of these methods. Sometimes just one is enough!
Social media: Use social media platforms to share product updates, promotions and behind-the-scenes content. You can also insert social icons onto your site to help visitors share products with their network.
Email marketing: Build a subscriber list and send targeted emails. Sometimes the best place to start is by contacting people that you already have in your network, as they may be thrilled at the idea of supporting your store! Email marketing automation, like sending an automated "thank you" email after someone purchases a product from your store, can also be very effective.
Paid advertising: Consider Google Ads or social media ads to give your products and site an extra boost.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
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10. Monitor and improve
Last but not least, running an online shop isn’t much different from running a brick-and-mortar store, especially when it comes to monitoring your store’s performance and checking your inventory. There are many tools available to help you regularly check your store’s performance:
- Analytics: Use analytics tools to track visitor behavior, conversion rates and popular products. This can help you determine whether you need to add, improve or remove any products on your site that aren’t serving you.
- Feedback: Listen to customer feedback and make necessary improvements. Encourage visitors to write reviews on products or offer a discount if they submit a testimonial on a product they liked.
When launching a website, you have a variety of choices to suit your specific needs, whether you’re seeking simplicity, customization or advanced features. Explore these top website builders to find the perfect fit for your online presence: Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Shopify and WordPress. Learn more about these options by clicking here.
Enhance your e-commerce experience
It’s important to have a comprehensive e-commerce solution that allows you to sell everywhere with ease: online, in person and across multiple channels. Look for features like POS systems, a branded mobile app, drop-shipping and more, so you can adapt and scale your business effortlessly.
You want to gain complete control of your business by managing all your inventory, orders and sales from one centralized dashboard. You also want to optimize your site traffic with built-in SEO tools, marketing automations and ad campaigns. The ultimate goal is to ensure a seamless experience for your customers.
Kurt’s best website builders for building your online shop
Kurt's key takeaways
Launching an online shop might seem overwhelming at first, but with the right tools and guidance, it can be a smooth and rewarding process. A comprehensive platform that simplifies everything from design to payment processing can make it easier for you to focus on what you love: selling your products. Remember, every successful store starts with a single step, so don’t hesitate to dive in and start building your dream shop today.
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Now that you’ve learned how to set up your online shop, we’d love to hear from you! What challenges or successes have you experienced in your journey to launch an online store? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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